New Chances and New Beginnings
by Klara32
Summary: Sakura has always believed to follow her heart. What happens when her heart leads her to an unfamiliar territory
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters. But I do own Sakura. She is mine. No touchy my characters! Unless you ask permission. Maybe

NEW BEGINNINGS AND NEW CHANCES

CHAPTER 1 

Sakura was tired, and hoped that they would find a resting place soon. She was all too aware of Kagome and Inuyasha's quarrel, and knew that it wasn't only her that had grown tired of it. 'Kami,' she thought. 'If they keep this up, none of us will ever be able to get some sleep.' The problem was that both the miko and hanyou were stubborn, and therefore were unwilling to give up the fight. Sakura, frustrated and tired, decided to settle this herself. She softly called for Sango. The taijaya looked up and walked towards her.

"What is it Sakura-chan? Do you sense a demon?" she questioned, eyes glancing around.

"No, it's nothing like that," she replied. "I just want this fight to end."

Sango raised any eyebrow and glanced towards Inuyasha and Kagome who were glaring and arguing heatedly.

"What do you plan to do?" Sango asked curiously.

Sakura smiled.

"You take care of Kagome, Sango. I'll take care of Inuyasha."

Sango glanced at the miko doubtedly.

"What do you want me to do?" the taijaya asked.

"I don't know," Sakura said, while making her way to the hanyou. "Wing it."

A flicker of confusion slide across Sango's face at the slang, but she made her way to Kagome.

"Kagome-chan," Sango said as she made her way to the fuming miko.

Kagome snapped angry eyes to Sango, who hesitated. She relaxed as her gaze settled on Sango. She turned away from Inuyasha, head held high, and made her way to Sango. Inuyasha ready to snap after Kagome, was caught on his sleeve by Sakura, who had made her way to him.

She smiled up at him sweetly.

"Relax Inuyasha," she said tugging him away from the direction of Kagome and Sango.

She then hooked her arm through his and tugged him forward.

Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara watched this with relief, happy that Inuyasha and Kagome's feud was finally over. Well at least for now. Meanwhile, Kagome was telling Sango how frustrating and irritating and stupid the hanyou was.

"He is so selfish," Kagome fumed. "He doesn't care about anyone but himself."

"I'm sure that's not true, Kagome-chan," Sango soothed. "Inuyasha is just..."

"Immature? Stupid? Rude? Yeah, I agree he is," Kagome finished with contempt. Sango sighed in defeat and decided to let the girl rant just a little more.

Ahead of them Sakura was doing her best to cheer up the annoyed hanyou. But all of her attempts were met with him telling her to shut up and mind her own business.

"You shouldn't be angry all the time Inuyasha," She said as he wrenched his arm from her grip and tucked it in the sleeve of his haoiri.

"It's not healthy," she added as he scowled.

"Would you just.." he started, but she finished for him.

"Shut up? Why, am I bothering you?" he simply glared at her and sped up.

Sakura continued to match her pace with his. She was slightly surprised he didn't simply just jump into the trees. After a while he slowed his pace, realizing she wasn't going to say much more. They walked side by side in silence, Inuyasha with a scowl set in place, Sakura with a thoughtful look.

Finally she said, "I don't blame you for feeling the way you do. Kagome can be a little.. um… irritating."

Expecting for Inuyasha to tell her to mind her business again, she was startled when he threw his head back and laughed. She gazed at him curiously.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

Smirking, he said, " I thought you were her friend."

" I am," she said indignant, "but sometimes friends have to be truthful about things so that their friend can well… become better."

Inuyasha snorted, and Sakura smiled.

" I guess that means I should be honest with you. Inuyasha, you're not as bad as Kagome thinks." "Don't get me wrong," she added when he glanced at her, "You do have your faults."

He raised a brow, and turned his gaze ahead of them. "Oh yeah? Well I already knew that. I've been hearing about my 'faults' all my life. And don't give me that look," he snapped when a look of sympathy slipped across her face.

Sakura immediately took the look off her face. She titled her head as she gazed at him.

"I didn't mean to offend you, Inuyasha. But like I said you don't just have faults you know. You've got a whole lot of good qualities too."

Again he snorted, a look of skepticism on his face. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well," Sakura said, using her fingers to count, "One you're really strong."

"Of course I am, baka," he snapped, annoyed, "I'm a hanyou."

Sakura shook her head. "That's not what I meant. Yeah, you have physical strength, but you have emotional strength too. You've been through a lot, but you're still sane." "Well," she added, eyeing him with amusement, "a little bit sane."

He growled at her.

Laughing softly to herself, she continued to count off his qualities. "You're caring, not matter how many times you deny it. You're smart."

He scowled again. "I'm not smart. I don't know how to read or anything."

"There are different types of smarts, Inuyasha. When it comes to strategy and figuring some things out you're pretty good. Now, don't interrupt."

He humphed but stayed silent.

"Oh yeah, and you have a great sense of smell, you're loyal, you have awesome hearing, which in my opinion, comes in really handy. Plus," she said reaching up to tug on his ears, "You're ears are the cutest things ever."

He growled at her and tugged away.

Laughing softly, she gazed at him. His hair gleamed under the light of the stars. His eyes reflected the stars' light and gleamed a bright gold. She was pretty sure that if she hadn't been following him, she probably wouldn't have been able to stay on the trail.

"Plus," she added softly, still gazing at him, "you're.."

Realizing what she was about to say, she flushed and immediately stopped. Inuyasha, though had heard her and was curious to what she was going to say.

"I'm what?" he demanded as he turned to gaze at her. Her face was flushed and she avoided his gaze. She walked forward and mumbled "Never mind."

Inuyasha though, was too curious to let it go.

"I'm what?" he demanded again, grabbing her arm.

"Never mind Inuyasha, I mean you know how I babble anyway and well, whatever I was going to say was probably stupid and you won't ca…"

She was cut off as he said her name. Inuyasha rarely said someone's name unless he was trying to get their attention during battle.

"You start babbling when you get nervous," he said simply, and gazed at her waiting.

Embarrassed, Sakura lowered her gaze, but a clawed finger tipped her chin up so she could look in his eyes. Once again she could see the light of the stars gleaming off his eyes, making them look a liquid gold. She swallowed and licked her lips.

"You're beautiful, Inuyasha. That's what I was going to say."

He seemed taken aback by that, and released her abruptly. Instead of scowling and walking away like she thought, he simply studied her, a look of thoughtfulness on his face. They were ahead of the others, and had turned a bend. The group couldn't see them. Sakura shifted uncomfortably under his scrutinizing gaze.

"I told you, you would think it was stupid," she managed weakly, finding that she couldn't meet his eyes again.

"I don't think it's stupid," he replied flatly, still gazing at her thoughtfully.

They stood in silence a few feet from each other. The silence was broken, however, when Shippo turned the bend and jumped into Sakura's arms.

She smiled down at the kitsune, still avoiding looking at Inuyasha. Shippo seeing her expression turned an accusing and suspicious glare to Inuyasha.

"What did you do to her, Inuyasha?" Shippo demanded.

Inuyasha's thoughtful look had turned into a scowl at the sight of the kitsune.

"None of your damned business, brat," he snapped taking a swing at Shippo.

Shippo yelped and leaped out of Sakura's arms, bounding in the direction of the others.

"Kagome!" he cried, as Inuyasha made a grab for him. "Inuyasha is being mean again!"

Inuyasha growled at him as he followed after Shippo, while Kagome and the others turned the bend. He paused only slightly, to turn another thoughtful gaze to Sakura, who was looking at the stars.

Author's Notes: Just to let you know this chapter was inspired by another fanfic I read. I forgot the name though…. Anyway, if you have any questions about Sakura, I could make a chapter explaining how she got here and such. Just to let you know Sakura is not from the Feudal Era. Please Review!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Once again I don't own Inuyasha. I do though, own Sakura.

Mustafa, I updated because of your birthday

* * *

'_Baka, baka,'_ Sakura scolded herself repeatedly.

Why did she have to go and do something stupid like that? All she had wanted was for Inuyasha and Kagome to stop fighting. Easy enough, right? So how had it turned out that she had ended up confessing something to Inuyasha, she hadn't even confessed to herself?

Sakura groaned, before fixing a glance toward Kagome. At least the miko was in better spirits. She sighed and made her way over to her.

"Kagome-chan, how are you doing today?" she asked, smiling as her friend turned a happy smile to her.

"Much better, thanks, Sakura-chan," miko replied, rummaging through her bag.

Sakura raised a brow," What are you looking for?"

"My geometry book. Did I mention I hate geometry?"

Sakura gave her an amused smile.

"Yes, you have numerous times. I don't think it's so bad."

"Oh yeah? Is that why you had to retake our last quiz?"

Sakura flushed and lifted her chin.

"That was a review quiz. How was I supposed to pass it if I didn't have any material to review?"

Kagome smiled and rolled her eyes. "Anyway, have you seen Shippo or Inuyasha? I haven't seen them since this morning."

At the mention of the hanyou, Sakura winced. Luckily Kagome was to engrossed in her book to notice.

"Ah.. I think Shippo ran off with Kirara somewhere.. and I don't know where Inuyasha is."

"Hmm," came Kagome's reply. She glanced up at Sakura who was shifting uncomfortably. "Could you look for him for me? I would, but I have to really study if I want to get ready for the test we have this week."

"Ah .. um, sure Kagome-chan," Sakura said, though in the inside she was slightly dreading seeing the hanyou after their discussion last night.

She turned to leave, but was stopped by Kagome's concerned question.

"Sakura-chan, are you all right?"

"Hai," she said instantly, flashing Kagome her brightest smile. "I'm fine, absolutely fine."

With that she walked off in her search, leaving Kagome to watch her with a slight unconvinced look on her face, but soon the miko simply shrugged andturned backtoher book.

* * *

Sakura had been walking sullenly in the woods for a good minute or two, entranced in her thoughts.

'_It's no big deal. I only said those things to get him distracted, and it worked. No reason to freak out at the mere mention of his name. Besides, if for some odd reason I do mean those things, Kagome-chan has feelings for him, and that means Inuyasha is strictly off-limits.' _

Sakura was becoming more and more doubtful despite the encouraging words she gave herself. So engrossed that she failed to notice the turned over root that lay in her path. With a yelp, she tripped and fell flat on her face.

'_On the bright side,'_ she thought sullenly,_ 'no one saw that.'_

A snort above her made her wince.

"Clumsy idiot," was the snide remark she heard above her.

Sakura lifted herself with as much dignity she could muster, and dusted herself off. Then with a deep breath, she lifted her head to glare accusingly at the hanyou who was settled comfortably above her in a tree branch.

"You could have warned me, ya know," she said, planting her hands on her hips.

He snorted, and with one leap landed in front of her. He smirked, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Don't blame me because you're a klutz," he said, his smirk widening as Sakura flushed.

"I am** not** a klutz," she said, her glare faltering, as a wave of embarrassment washed over her.

He raised an eyebrow.

Sakura sighed, and rubbed her temples. _'I trip once or twice.. ok maybe more than that, but now I'm labeled as a klutz? This day just keeps getting better.'_

Out loud she said, "Kagome-chan is looking for you. She asked me to find you."

Inuyasha grunted non-committedly, and studied her.

Shifting uneasily under his gaze, she glanced at him anxiously.

"Why have you been avoiding me?"

The question startled her, and for the first time since they had last spoken, she locked gazes with Inuyasha. She grew wary at the look he gave her, and dropped her gaze.

"I haven't been avoiding you, Inuyasha."

"Bullshit," he snapped at her, glaring. "You can't even look me in the eye, so don't give me that crap."

He was right, but Sakura wasn't going to admit that anytime soon. She racked her brain for a better excuse, and could only come up with, "I've just been tired is all."

"Tired, huh?"

"Yes, tired. I've been stressed because of…. Ah.. tests that I have to take and well, I haven't had much time for anything else."

The excuse sound unbelievable even to her own ears, but she didn't back down. Instead of risking a glance at the glare she knew the hanyou was giving her, she kept her gaze on the string of her boot.

"You're pathetic."

The statement had her snapping her gaze to his, frowning.

"Pathetic?"

"Yeah, pathetic. You can admit you're lying."

He was growling now, and Sakura continued to frown at him, not at all intimidated by his anger.

"I'm not lying, Inuyasha. I am tired."

"Not that you idiot," he growled, annoyed now, "I meant what you said last night."

Is that why he was so angry? She could lie to him now. Tell him that she hadn't meant what she said last night. But when she opened her mouth, what came out wasn't a lie.

"I didn't lie about that either."

_'Am I going insane?'_

At least he wasn't growling at her anymore.

"Look Inuyasha, I didn't lie about what I said last night, and I'm not lying now. I just.." she trailed off, unsure of what else she should say.

"You're scared," was the reply, and she glanced at him, startled. She realized it hadn't been a question, but a statement. She sighed and nodded.

"Why?" he demanded, frowning.

"I don't know," admitted weakly, once again studying her boot's string.

He snorted and shook his head at her and walked past.

"Stupid girl, " he muttered under his breath and Sakura had to agree.

* * *

Author Notes: So here's the second chapter. I'm thinking about making this story a lot longer than I had planned.. but until then… review and let me know what you think. 


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